We propose ParaSights, a spatial presentation technique facilitating parallel interaction across multiple virtual environments by leveraging binocular rivalry suppression. Conventional approaches for multi-environment interaction, such as split-field presentation or visual overlays, often hinder self-projection and require explicit viewpoint-switching actions. To address these issues, ParaSights delivers distinct first-person viewpoints to the left and right eyes, inducing binocular rivalry and leading to stochastic alternations in perceptual dominance between the two views. By exploiting rivalry suppression, a process where one eye’s image is temporarily erased from conscious perception while the other becomes dominant, the system allows users to remain continuously engaged in one environment while reflexively responding to discrete events in another, without deliberate switching operations. We conducted a user study comparing ParaSights with a split-field baseline in a dual-task scenario combining a continuous tracking task and a discrete pointing task. We analyzed task performance, presence in each environment, VR sickness, eye strain, and perceived task load. Results demonstrate that ParaSights maintains significantly higher presence and task performance compared to a split-field baseline, without significantly increasing VR sickness, although a slight trend toward greater eye strain was observed. These findings suggest that utilizing binocular rivalry can serve as an effective mechanism for supporting parallel interaction across multiple virtual environments.
Kosei Yamamoto, Kosuke Morimoto, and Keita Watanabe. 2026. ParaSights: A Spatial Presentation Technique Enabling Parallel Interaction with Two Virtual Environments byExploiting Binocular Rivalry Suppression. In Proceedings of the Augmented Humans International Conference 2026 (AHs '26). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 90–100. https://doi.org/10.1145/3795011.3795029
